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Soldier in God's Army

Soldier in God's Army

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Crazy Life Of A Mexican Missionary

So I still haven´t met the owner of the MaicDonalds stand, but when I do
I´m definitely getting a picture with him of us shaking hands. If you
don´t know what MaicDonalds is, you seriously need to check the pictures
from one of the previous e-mails.

Sorry I don´t have a lot to
write about this week. We have been busy, but not a lot has happened.
This weeks I´ll write stuff down if something happens so I can remember
to put it in the letters, otherwise the letters will be pretty empty.

So
this week has been awesome. A little frustrating though. We didn´t find
any new investigators and we´re getting a little frustrated with some
of our investigators, like Vicky and Memo.

Vicky and Memo didn´t
get baptized, but we rescheduled their baptismal date for this upcoming Saturday. Then yesterday, they didn´t go to church. They say that they
still have the desire to be baptized, but we feel as though they are
avoiding their baptism. If they don´t get baptized this Saturday, we´re
thinking we might have to drop them, as them have been investigating the
church since December and still aren't progressing. We´ll see what
happens.

Fatima, a nine-year old granddaughter of a member
couple, got baptized this last Saturday! She didn´t want to get baptized
for a while, but she finally had the desire and we attended the
service. It was pretty special. Also, in my first week here Fatima and
her grandparents asked me to teach her English, so I have been giving
her lessons every time we visit. Right now she is saying her prayers in
English (or parts in English), can count to 29 and knows the alphabet
and all of its sounds.

Amadelia is really doing well. We are
going to teach her the third lesson this week and invite her to be
baptized. She really has been prepared to receive the gospel, and she
has the desire to learn more. So far she has completed every commitment
we have given her.

This week, on Thursday, I will complete 3
months in the mission! It has been going by so fast. It´s weird to think
I´m an eight of the way there already.

One cool thing about Mexico is how cheap you can buy stuff. The other day, I bought a pretty
awesome tie for 15 pesos (a little more than a dollar). One of these days
me and Elder Lopez are gonna go to the tianguis, little
tienditas/stands that sell stuff really cheap, like shoes, ties, and
other stuff.

So here in Mexico, it´s pretty common to see tree/shrub art. This one was pretty cool, in the shape of a bird.

Oh,
so today is P-Day. Earlier today, our entire zone met up in a Ranchito
and we played Capture the Flag, but to an entirely new, extreme level.
We played Cautura la Bandera in the ruins of an ancient, collapsed
catholic cathedral! Pretty awesome huh? There were tunnels and caves and
tons of partially crumbled walls that made it perfect to hide, and
other places were perfect for prisons. It was awesome. Even with my
injury, I ran and played like crazy. Honestly, it was pretty awesome.
After we played for a few hours, we all ate Mexican hamburguesas and
refrescas (soda). Pretty much the funnest P-Day ever. I´ll have to send
photos next week if the other Elders send me some.

Oh yeah, so I
mentioned my injury but I never told you. So, remember how I said we
walk a lot? Like, 7 to 8 hours a day? Well on Saturday, while we were
walking, my left foot just started killing a ton. I figured it was just
one of those normal things that leaves the next day, so I kept walking
and limping the rest of the day. Then when I woke up yesterday, it was
still hurting like crazy and I couldn´t put any weight on it. So I
continued to walk on it. Today, in the morning, it was even worse, but I
really wanted to play Cautura la Bandera, so we went anyway. While we
were playing and I was running, I didn´t feel any pain. This usually
happens when I have adrenaline pumping in my blood. After the epic
event, we were walking back to the bus stop and I couldn´t even walk
normally, putting my foot behind my body. We ended up going to an
hermana in our ward who is a doctor, and she looked and it, and said I
have a Contracture in one of the ligaments or tendons (I don´t remember
which) in the main ligament/tendon in the left foot, that connects
behind the big toe all the way up to the top of the calf. A contracture
is when a lot of weight or force or tension (in my case all three) is
put on the ligament/tendon, and it tenses up and won´t stretch or relax
and it stays like that permanently until treated. So she gave me a
prescription for pills and a crema that I have to use a few times each
day for a few weeks, and also that I have to rest it and not walk for a
day. She also gave me a cane and said I need to put all my weight on the
cane and almost none on my left leg until she says I don´t have to use
it anymore. We are going to visit her again on Wednesday or Thursday so
she can check up on me. To be honest, I look pretty hilarious with this
cane. I feel like an old man haha. I´ll have to send pictures next week.
We didn´t take any yet because we just left the house of Hermana
Mejilla (la doctora).

Missionary work is hard, yet the fruits of
the labors are so worth it. I´m so happy right know, and I don´t even
know exactly why. When we work hard and forget ourselves in our labors
in the Lord´s vineyard, time passes by faster than I can believe. Also,
it´s getting harder and harder to speak English. I think I´m at the
point now where I can speak Spanish better than I can speak English. The
other day, as I was practicing English with Elder Lopez (to help him
learn to speak it and understand it better, as we do every night after
we return to the house), I was trying to say something in English but no
words came to my head. Not even kidding, we sat there in silence for at
least 3 minutes as I tried to think, but no English whatsoever was
coming to me. I finally said it in Spanish and he told me in English
haha! Pretty much hilarious.

Well, we gotta go out and work, so until next week, Love You all and write me people! DearElder.com
applies here too, and it´s way faster than snail mail. I have sent a
few letters out via snail mail, but it takes a few weeks, sometimes up
to 2 months, for them to arrive in the U.S. and for snail mail from the
U.S. to arrive here, entonces tengan paciencia. ¡Adios y hasta proxima
semana!